MLS Tidbits

A few things to pass along on this late Friday night...

*Chivas USA loses emerging star and 2006 rookie of the year Jonathan Bornstein for six weeks after he hurt his knee during Thursday's training session. Which means we will not see him for the USA in the March friendlies against Ecuador and Guatemala. Chivas also signed Alex Zotinca, a former KC Wizard who attracted interest from DCU many years ago when he was still playing indoors.

*The Rimando deal is done -- NY gets a couple draft picks -- and once again the league is shaking its head about RSL's operations. RSL's new motto: Providing Comic Relief to MLS Year After Year.

*A source tells me that Kansas City has expressed some interest in Luciano De Bruno, a 28-year-old Argentine midfielder playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv. He was involved in an incident with Rangers in the UEFA Cup this week.

Yes, it's RSL's fault. I doubt Scott woke up one morning after the trade and said: "You know what... I think I'm going to hang it up." If RSL had a clue they'd have seen it coming, or at the very least PLANNED for a keeper of his age to get hurt at some point in the season, in which case an experienced 3rd String Keeper would have been a necessity.

And Goff: What do you mean "RSL's NEW Motto" ? They began providing comic relief as soon as they were announced as an expansion franchise... I'm not aware of any Royalty in SLC. This is what happens when you've got magic underpants and near-beer.

Alright, alright, lay off our Mormon bretheren. I'll hope upon hope that the RSL FO learned a lot in the mishaps of this offseason, and that the ship has been righted. I still think it's a good market with a great fan base. RSL has the potential to be a great franchise, so let's all hope this crud is behind us.

Since we're all talking about jokes in MLS, could you tell us the real deal with the Rapids and the botched name change? Could you tell us, once and for all, what was supposed to happen and why it didn't?

Arsenal is a Nike sponsored team. Nike holds the rights to apparel with "Arsenal" printed/embroidered etc on it. Since MLS is an Adidas league, Nike did not want Adidas to profit from a "brand" that they own the rights to.

AlecW81: Most likely, this is why the Colorado Arsenal was dropped as a name for the [C]Rapids. However, I'd like to think that long-time residents of the area reminded the Colorado front office of the controversy surrounding the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and they types of weapons that were produced there. There were many a "shut it down" protest at its gates back in the day. The new Rapids stadium is built on land that was once part of the RMA.